Like John Mulaney said, “I always thought that quicksand was gonna be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be.”
As a Gen-X’er, I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons, and in the cartoons, quicksand is a big problem. One of the biggest, in fact. I just assumed I’d be dealing with it my entire adult life. I remember formulating my plan for how to survive when I fell victim to quicksand — grab on to whatever I could, lay out flat if possible, never struggle. I may have practiced my survival techniques in the backyard.
As it turns out, I’ve never had to work around nor be saved from quicksand. I’ve never even seen quicksand.
I was a victim of availability bias.
Since the quicksand concept was right in front of me all the time, I couldn’t help but be worried about it.
The News, and media in general, are masters at using availability bias to play us like fiddles.
The next time you find yourself anxious or angry because of something you saw, heard, or read on The News, ask yourself,
“Is this quicksand?”
Because unlike quicksand, where you focus really can trap you.
